Great bit of writing! JB was brought up the way kids should be and it’s special to see the wonderful results. You are spot on with the three categories of parents. I’ve had a few run ins with loud and obnoxious people as I still referee basketball. I enjoy doing the games for the younger kids while most still listen when you help them. I now see parents who I taught or coached and they are watching their children play. Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there and thanks again with this nice piece!
I moved from Cincy to Houghton Lake in northern Michigan. Biggest inland lake in Michigan; 26,000 acres of water, 6 miles wide, 11 miles long. It’s southeast of Traverse City. When you visit go to the UP across the Mackinaw bridge and drive up to Whitefish Point to visit the Edmund Fitzgerald museum.
Thanks for the Burrows stories. Good people doing good things. We had a Dean of Arts and Sciences at NKU for several years who worked as a ref for SEC football during the season. I believe his academic area was chemistry. He officiated because they were hard to come by even at that level.
Enjoy your trip north. Will always miss Gordon Lightfoot. Come back again.
Great stories and so good to hear more about Joe and his beautiful family. I grew up on a farm in Northern Illinois and there were few kids that lived nearby in the country...however, we all found a way to turn our apple orchard into a ball field by turning rocks into bases. We played every day in the summer when it wasn't raining. There would be maybe just ten of us at any one time at all ages. Sometimes my brother joined up with some of his older buddies. It was the greatest of times. I am sad to see so many empty ballfields in Cincinnati along the road or at a park. We would have given anything to have a real ball field nearby where we could play. I just don't see kids outside enjoying the sport anymore unless it is planned by adults. Keep up the great work! I want to see more kids enjoy the outdoors and have fun playing the game and exercising again. It was a common site to see kids in the Chicago suburbs in poverty areas playing baseball on the less travelled streets. It's a game that is easy to love and teaches kids to get along together and have fun.
A lot of good stories. Thanks for sharing. I like your parent categories. You hit the nail on the head with #2. Ridiculous, uptight, stressed out, overbearing...yep, I dealt with them when playing and umpiring. Parents who were good at baseball were always the chill ones. They would just hang back, watch, offer words of encouragement. They seemed to understand how hard it was to excel and how damaging it was to pressure the kids with limited talent.
It's funny how certain games stick in our heads forever. I was at a game where Gullett took a no-hitter into the 8th. Totally dominant. A guy hits a blooper down the right field line and whoever was in right made a mad dash. The ball landed squarely on the foul line, no more than an inch or two from the web of the RFer who was in the middle of a long slide for it. Only hit of the game. I remember it like yesterday.
Nice work! FYI: next time you take the group to a game find the kiosks where you can convert cash to a card that can be used anywhere in the park. It's branded as "Reds Pay".
I love the cashless thing except for two scenarios: 1) it seems to have all but eliminated the roaming beer guys. It would be nice to snag a refill from my seat every once in a while. And 2) in the club area they keep the card terminals behind the bar so cashless transactions now take as long as cash ones used to. Literally every other concession stand in the park has the terminals placed where customers can quickly tap to pay and move along.
Outstanding job. Loved the anecdotes about the Burrow fam and just solidifies my hope and faith in St Joe Inevitable.
I’ve coached all levels from tee ball to club ball to HS varsity and you are spot on with your points. Especially regarding umpiring. Why someone would subject themselves to that for the $50-60 is beyond my understanding.
Great stuff on the Burrows. Little wonder that Joe turned out so well.
This might be one of those "yeah, right" moments. But I swear I was at that game in '86. It was a tracer to the LF green seats off of their closer Smith. Can't remember his first name. Had longish silver-gray hair and looked more like a country singer than a pitcher. But he was a good one. That was also the same night that Len Bias died. I remember seeing seeing it in the paper when I got up the next day.
Southeast OH is a great place with even better people. I imagine that is a cool place to raise a family. I really enjoyed the commentary on youth baseball as I am about ready to enter that phase in life. Glad to hear that youth baseball still has great participation - one of the few youth sports that can't be carried by 1-2 kids.
Great stuff. Could have guessed the Burrows were great folks, but glad to know for sure. Have a lot of love for Meigs County. In 2004 myself and many other disc golfers were marooned at Forked Run SP when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused flooding that trapped us. The Tuppers Plains medics boated us out in the middle of the night and the folks at Reedsville Church of Christ set us up with food and blankets at 3am and let us sleep at the church. You never forget hospitality like that!
Nice job Josh ! Always tough to pinch hit for a legend.. Yes Eric Davis was special.. enjoy Michigans Upper Peninsula make sure you stop at The Dunes Saloon and Great Lakes Brewery for Beer and pizza in Grand Marais family friendly place .
Great job! I am an OU grad who couldn’t love OU or Athens any more than I do... add Joe Burrow and his folks to that list. I coached a lot of baseball, softball and basketball and while the joy of coaching is fantastic, there were certainly challenges dealing with some parents. Glad you are involved in the community and being an example to all the youngsters.
Great bit of writing! JB was brought up the way kids should be and it’s special to see the wonderful results. You are spot on with the three categories of parents. I’ve had a few run ins with loud and obnoxious people as I still referee basketball. I enjoy doing the games for the younger kids while most still listen when you help them. I now see parents who I taught or coached and they are watching their children play. Happy Father’s Day to all of the dads out there and thanks again with this nice piece!
I moved from Cincy to Houghton Lake in northern Michigan. Biggest inland lake in Michigan; 26,000 acres of water, 6 miles wide, 11 miles long. It’s southeast of Traverse City. When you visit go to the UP across the Mackinaw bridge and drive up to Whitefish Point to visit the Edmund Fitzgerald museum.
Thanks for the Burrows stories. Good people doing good things. We had a Dean of Arts and Sciences at NKU for several years who worked as a ref for SEC football during the season. I believe his academic area was chemistry. He officiated because they were hard to come by even at that level.
Enjoy your trip north. Will always miss Gordon Lightfoot. Come back again.
Great stories and so good to hear more about Joe and his beautiful family. I grew up on a farm in Northern Illinois and there were few kids that lived nearby in the country...however, we all found a way to turn our apple orchard into a ball field by turning rocks into bases. We played every day in the summer when it wasn't raining. There would be maybe just ten of us at any one time at all ages. Sometimes my brother joined up with some of his older buddies. It was the greatest of times. I am sad to see so many empty ballfields in Cincinnati along the road or at a park. We would have given anything to have a real ball field nearby where we could play. I just don't see kids outside enjoying the sport anymore unless it is planned by adults. Keep up the great work! I want to see more kids enjoy the outdoors and have fun playing the game and exercising again. It was a common site to see kids in the Chicago suburbs in poverty areas playing baseball on the less travelled streets. It's a game that is easy to love and teaches kids to get along together and have fun.
A lot of good stories. Thanks for sharing. I like your parent categories. You hit the nail on the head with #2. Ridiculous, uptight, stressed out, overbearing...yep, I dealt with them when playing and umpiring. Parents who were good at baseball were always the chill ones. They would just hang back, watch, offer words of encouragement. They seemed to understand how hard it was to excel and how damaging it was to pressure the kids with limited talent.
It's funny how certain games stick in our heads forever. I was at a game where Gullett took a no-hitter into the 8th. Totally dominant. A guy hits a blooper down the right field line and whoever was in right made a mad dash. The ball landed squarely on the foul line, no more than an inch or two from the web of the RFer who was in the middle of a long slide for it. Only hit of the game. I remember it like yesterday.
Nice work! FYI: next time you take the group to a game find the kiosks where you can convert cash to a card that can be used anywhere in the park. It's branded as "Reds Pay".
I love the cashless thing except for two scenarios: 1) it seems to have all but eliminated the roaming beer guys. It would be nice to snag a refill from my seat every once in a while. And 2) in the club area they keep the card terminals behind the bar so cashless transactions now take as long as cash ones used to. Literally every other concession stand in the park has the terminals placed where customers can quickly tap to pay and move along.
Outstanding job. Loved the anecdotes about the Burrow fam and just solidifies my hope and faith in St Joe Inevitable.
I’ve coached all levels from tee ball to club ball to HS varsity and you are spot on with your points. Especially regarding umpiring. Why someone would subject themselves to that for the $50-60 is beyond my understanding.
Thanks for the great read!
Great stuff on the Burrows. Little wonder that Joe turned out so well.
This might be one of those "yeah, right" moments. But I swear I was at that game in '86. It was a tracer to the LF green seats off of their closer Smith. Can't remember his first name. Had longish silver-gray hair and looked more like a country singer than a pitcher. But he was a good one. That was also the same night that Len Bias died. I remember seeing seeing it in the paper when I got up the next day.
Southeast OH is a great place with even better people. I imagine that is a cool place to raise a family. I really enjoyed the commentary on youth baseball as I am about ready to enter that phase in life. Glad to hear that youth baseball still has great participation - one of the few youth sports that can't be carried by 1-2 kids.
Great stuff. Could have guessed the Burrows were great folks, but glad to know for sure. Have a lot of love for Meigs County. In 2004 myself and many other disc golfers were marooned at Forked Run SP when the remnants of Hurricane Ivan caused flooding that trapped us. The Tuppers Plains medics boated us out in the middle of the night and the folks at Reedsville Church of Christ set us up with food and blankets at 3am and let us sleep at the church. You never forget hospitality like that!
Nice job Josh ! Always tough to pinch hit for a legend.. Yes Eric Davis was special.. enjoy Michigans Upper Peninsula make sure you stop at The Dunes Saloon and Great Lakes Brewery for Beer and pizza in Grand Marais family friendly place .
Great job! I am an OU grad who couldn’t love OU or Athens any more than I do... add Joe Burrow and his folks to that list. I coached a lot of baseball, softball and basketball and while the joy of coaching is fantastic, there were certainly challenges dealing with some parents. Glad you are involved in the community and being an example to all the youngsters.